The Toronto Maple Leafs completed the Rookie Tournament in London, ON with a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Budweiser Gardens on Sunday night, finishing 1-1-1 on the weekend after an overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators and a 6-4 defeat against the Montreal Canadiens.
Jack Rodewald, Mitch Marner, Nikolai Skladnichenko, Michael Joly, Andrew Nielsen and William Nylander scored for Toronto in a game that once again highlighted the organization’s top prospects, but also displayed a new crop of players that have promise and could make the NHL down the road.
Nylander was the most impressive Leaf of the tournament, scoring three goals and displaying more confidence on the ice. Marner played right wing against the Penguins after playing mostly center on Friday and appeared more comfortable against more experienced competition, scoring one and setting up Joly for his goal and 19-year-old Kasperi Kapanen had a number of chances against the team that selected him 22nd overall last year, but the most encouraging aspect for the Leafs are players outside their top prospects having ample offensive skills.
2015 draft picks Travis Dermott, Martin Dzierkals and Dmytro Timoshov, KHL import Nikita Soshnikov and Nikolai Skladnichenko displayed good speed, scoring ability and puck possession skills that will continue to be developed over the next year in the CHL or AHL.
If you add speedy Swedish winger Andreas Johnson, Boston College’s Jeremy Bracco, Marlies leading scorer Connor Brown and Brendan Leipsic into the mix, Toronto has made remarkable strides in the last 12 months of upgrading their organization and that will continue with 13 picks in the 2016 NHL Draft, but if you want to see most of these players, you will have to travel to various CHL rinks or to Ricoh Coliseum.
Nylander has special talent, but is moving to center after playing mostly wing last season and will have to become accustomed to that position with the Marlies before he is ready for the NHL. Marner has great tools, but has to do away with aspects of his game that he can get away with in Junior but can't be present in the pros.
The rest of the youngsters have to accentuate their talents by physically maturing over the next couple years, as they move from junior to the ECHL/AHL and possibly to the NHL someday.
*******
Toronto announced invitations to their training camp roster on Monday, adding free agents Michael Joly(Rimouski), Nikolas Brouillard(Quebec) , Aiden Jamieson(London) and Lucas Peressini(Kingston), Dzierkals, T.J. Foster(AHL contract), Frederik Gauthier, Kapanen, Marner, Nylander, Jack Rodewald(AHL), Skladnichenko(AHL), Soshnikov, Timashov, Brady Vail(AHL) and Carter Verhaeghe, blueliners Dermott, Stephen Desrocher, Cody Donaghey(AHL), Matt Finn, Andrew Nielsen and Rinat Valiev.
Forwards Bradley Latour, Scott Eansor, 2015 7th rounder Nikita Korostelev(Sarnia), 2014 4th rounder JJ Piccinich(London), defensemen Cameron Lizotte and Brenden Miller, and goaltender Justin Nichols were sent back to their junior teams.
*******
The Leafs announced their television and radio broadcast schedule for the upcoming season. All Toronto games will be televised, with Sportsnet, Rogers affiliates (including the Saturday night Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts on CBC) carrying 56 games and TSN airing 26 games. On the radio side, it is the same split down the middle of 41 games between Sportsnet FAN 590 and TSN 1050 Radio, which has been present since MLSE was purchased jointly between Bell and Rogers.
Long-time Play-by-play man Joe Bowen and color analyst Jim Ralph will return as the club’s radio broadcast team and Leafs TV and mapleleafs.com will carry game day skate broadcasts, highlights and post-game press conferences and interviews, with Paul Hendrick as the host.
Pre-season Broadcast Schedule
MON 9/21 OTTAWA…………..ACC………………………………………..7:30 PM (SPLIT SQUAD) TSN Radio
MON 9/21 @OTTAWA………..CANADIAN TIRE CENTER…..…..7:30 PM (SPLIT SQUAD)
TUE 9/22 @MONTREAL…..BELL CENTER…………………………..7:30 PM (TSN4-TV, TSN 1050 Radio)
FRI 9/25 BUFFALO…………ACC…………………………………………7:30 PM (SN360-TV, TSN 1050 Radio)
SAT 9/26 MONTREAL………ACC…………………………………………7:30 PM (SN-TV, FAN 590 Radio)
TUE 9/29 @BUFFALO……..FIRST NIAGARA CENTER……….7:00 PM (TSN4-TV, TSN 1050 Radio)
FRI 10/2 @DETROIT………JOE LOUIS ARENA………………….7:30PM (TSN4-TV, TSN 1050 Radio)
SAT 10/3 DETROIT………….AIR CANADA CENTER…………….7:00 PM (SN1-TV, TSN 1050 Radio)
*******
Listen to myself and Norman James of CTV London discuss this weekend's Rookie Tournament:
See Previous Columns
Kapanen Keeping It Real, Sunday News and Notes
First Impressions Of Leafs Prospects At Rookie Tournament
Swedes In Stereo; Sundin Joins Salming On Legend’s Row
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact” button at the top of the page.*******
Note : Continue to check back to my column on Hockeybuzz throughout the day for the latest Leafs updates or on Twitter
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information
click here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»